From bookshops in the heart of the country’s largest cities to seaside towns that require a ferry to visit, independent bookshops continue to bring bold, innovative and inspired bookselling to communities, driving creative industries and local economies.

Selected by the judges from 72 finalists announced last month, the award, sponsored by book wholesaler Gardners, celebrates those bookshops that continue to draw book lovers to towns and cities across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The overall winner, announced on 12th May, receives a cheque for £5,000 from Gardners, and will go on to compete for Book Retailer of the Year.

The shops are in the running to win Independent Bookshop of the Year, which will be announced when The British Book Awards ceremony returns to central London on Monday 12th May 2025. The Independent Bookshop of the Year winner will also join the shortlist for Book Retailer of the Year.

2023’s Independent Bookshop of the Year champion Griffin Books returns as the Welsh winner, vying to reclaim its crown. If Griffin Books were to win on 12th May, the success would secure a hattrick for Welsh bookshops, with Crickhowell’s Book-ish taking home the award for Wales last year.

Meanwhile, The Book Nook has reclaimed its crown as the Scottish country winner, making it the winner of two awards, despite only opening its doors in 2020. Since then, it has expanded to a shop four times larger than its original and welcomed over 1,600 people to its extensive events programme in 2024 alone.

East England winner Maldon Books has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, from the local community helping financially support the bookshop in the pandemic, just three months after the shop opened, to now boasting two rooms for adults’ and children’s books, alongside an adjoining record shop.

The oldest bookshop amongst the young list, the Island of Ireland winner Bridge Books was established in 1995. In the thirty years since its opening, the shop has evolved to become a community hub, with successful book clubs and author talks forming their regular programme.

A love of local businesses bonds the Midlands, North and South-West England winners, with Birmingham’s The Heath Bookshop, Bramhall’s Simply Books and Bristol’s Storysmith all hosting independent coffee shops alongside books, encouraging readers to stay and enjoy a hot drink while they read. All three of these caffeinated teams capitalise on this extra energy, boasting impressive events programmes, including The Heath Bookshop hosting Rick Astley at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham to an audience of over 900 people, Simply Books welcoming household names such as Jojo Moyes, Anton du Beke and Matt Lucas, and Storysmith hosting talks with some of the most prestigious authors from across the pond, including Percival Everett and Colson Whitehead.

London’s winner Queen’s Park Books opened its doors in 2005 and since then has grown to be home to over 10,000 hand-picked books and has partnered with the Queen’s Park Book Festival, which takes place in the local park every summer. The only bookshop that requires a ferry to visit, Medina Bookshop wins the South-East England award, with a shop measuring to just 50 square metres and hosting a collection of antiquarian maritime books.

East England | Maldon Books

Maldon Books opened in 2019, just three months before the first national lockdown, where the local community helped support the bookshop to keep it going. Over the years, the team and shop has expanded, with two rooms for both adults’ and children’s books, as well as an adjoining record shop named Novel Sounds. They run regular author events, a weekly story time session, a book club and a monthly gift subscription.

Island of Ireland | Bridge Books

Bridge Books was established in Dromore in 1995 and has evolved to be the community hub that it is now. Before Covid, the shop specialised in second-hood books, but since the pandemic, the shop has expanded to include signed editions, book clubs and author talks, alongside a lot more new releases.

London | Queen’s Park Books

Queen’s Park Books was established in 2005 by the Fergiani Family and is an independent bookshop based at the heart of Queen’s Park, London. Their selection of more than 10,000 hand curated titles ranges from the classic to the contemporary. The shop are also proud to be partnered with the Queen’s Park Book Festival which takes place in the park every summer.

Midlands | The Heath Bookshop

Located in the South Birmingham suburb of Kings Heath, The Heath Bookshop is an independent bookshop providing a friendly atmosphere to sit amongst books, enjoy a quality coffee, and chat about all things books and life. Since opening in September 2022, the shop have successfully run over 130 author events ranging from author and music events in the shop to hosting Rick Astley at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham with over 900 people. The Heath Bookshop also hosted a Literature and Music Festival in April 2024 and the popular monthly book club hosts 80 people over four groups.

North England | Simply Books

Simply Books is an independent bookshop in Bramhall, Stockport that has been serving its community for over 20 years. Early last year, mother-and-son team Karen and Ben took over the ownership of the shop and it has gone from strength to strength ever since, with an entire store refurbishment and the introduction of a speciality coffee shop and a wine bar that sees the shop open right into the evening. Their events programme has seen huge growth, welcoming literary heavyweights including Jodi Picoult, Cecelia Ahern, and Jojo Moyes to household names of entertainment such as Anton du Beke and Matt Lucas. Simply Books’ work in schools has increased too, with the number of schools the shop works with on a regular basis almost doubling. They launched book clubs, with a huge 12 book clubs for adults now running with over 140 members. Additional clubs are coming, alongside the introduction of children’s ones, too!

Scotland | Book Nook Stewarton

The Book Nook Stewarton opened its doors in mid-December 2020 and was met with excitement from the local community, but were forced to close for four months for the second lockdown. On re-opening, despite only having a small shop area, the store started a book club, offered children’s clubs and activities and even ventured into holding author events. In June 2022, the store started The Book Nook’s first ‘mini book festival’. Expanding, the store moved into new premises, four times the size of the original shop, in October 2022 and in 2024 had more than 1,600 people attend the extensive book programme.

South-East England | Medina Bookshop

Medina Bookshop in Cowes on the Isle of Wight is just a two minute walk from the passenger ferry terminal, with boats arriving from Southampton hourly. Opening just over 5 years ago, the shop is just 50 square metres, but is already established as the town’s indispensable cultural hub. Just a small team of three, the shop hand-picks a wonderfully concise selection of new titles which sit alongside a comprehensive range of local titles and antiquarian maritime books. The shop collaborates, hosts and promotes countless events in store and elsewhere, promoting and encouraging local literary, musical and artistic talent as well as welcoming established names from elsewhere.

South-West England | Storysmith

Storysmith is an award-winning independent bookshop in South Bristol, stocking a curated selection of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. They also serve locally roasted coffee, and encourage browsers to linger while enjoying it. Storysmith was named Independent Bookshop of the Year for the South West at the British Book Awards in 2023. Known for an ambitious programme of literary events, recent years have seen notable authors visit the Bristol store, including Percival Everett, Maggie O’Farrell, Sheila Heti, Colson Whitehead, Neneh Cherry, Deborah Levy, Shon Faye, Olivia Laing, Douglas Stuart, Richard Powers and many more.

Wales | Griffin Books

Griffin Books is a small independent bookshop located in the seaside town of Penarth, south Wales. In addition to their carefully curated range of stock, the shop is well known for their busy programme of author events featuring a line-up of household names as well as platforming some incredible local Welsh talent. They also run six book clubs for all ages, offer bespoke book subscriptions and hold a weekly storytime for toddlers, and actively partner with other independent businesses and supporting local good causes. In September 2024, they celebrated a decade of business with a party surrounded by staff past and present, many of our wonderful customers and colleagues from the book trade. What started as a team of three (owner Mel Griffin, one part-time staff member plus Mel’s teenage son as Saturday assistant) has grown into what it is today: a team of nine with roles spanning event management, communications and schools in addition to shop floor booksellers.

Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller managing editor, said: ‘These nine shops reflect the UK and Ireland’s current embarrassment of riches in its independent bookselling scene, a climate which made the selection of the regional and country winners undoubtedly the most closely-run and tightly-contested in British Book Awards history. The finalists speak to what makes indies great: their individuality and idiosyncrasy.'

'The winners run the gamut from relative newcomers who launched in the teeth of the pandemic to old hands who have been trading for decades, but they all are bursting with fresh ideas, and never stint on innovation. They operate in different milieu – bustling city centres, buzzy market towns, bucolic villages – but all have adapted their businesses to meet the needs of local communities. Ultimately, what links these indies is they are a vanguard, bold tastemakers who support authors and create bestsellers, often long before those books are glimmers in chain or online bookshops’ eyes.’

Ruth Gardner, Gardners’ UK Sales Manager, said: ‘Every independent bookshop has a unique story to tell, and we are proud to support those who make reading more accessible and magical for everyone. This award recognizes their invaluable contribution. Independent bookshops are at the heart of the book world, bringing communities together and championing the joy of reading. We’re proud to support the Independent Bookshop of the Year award and would like to congratulate this year’s Regional and Country Winners in this prestigious awards.’

Meryl Halls, Managing Director of Booksellers Association, said: ‘At the Booksellers Association we never cease to be impressed by the ability of independent booksellers to adapt, innovate and evolve to meet the needs of their customers and the challenges of the retail landscape. Independent bookshops have long transcended being only a place where books are sold. Today, they’re drivers of community projects, distributors of creatives industries and engines of local economies – and you’d be hard pressed to find a group of independent booksellers that better deliver on all these fronts than this sensational collection of deserving winners.’

The winner of Independent Bookshop of the Year will be revealed during The British Book Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House London on Monday 12th May 2025.

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